What’s a Democratic Party without the Clintons?

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, greet supporters after voting in Chappaqua, N.Y., on Nov. 8, 2016.

Photo: Seth Wenig / Associated Press 2016

With all the noise surrounding the Democrats’ crowded presidential field, it’s easy to overlook that the Clintons are gone from the scene.

The Clinton era began with a largely unknown Bill Clinton giving a disastrously overlong speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. It ended quietly last week with Hillary Clinton telling the world that she was not running again.

In between, the Clintons built and stoked a nationwide network of labor and business figures, minorities and women that was as loyal as any political machine. They weren’t just the face of the party — they were also behind-the-scenes power brokers who got friends elected to offices large and small.

Even when the rank and file mutinied and went for Barack Obama over Hillary in 2008, the Clintons dusted themselves off, remained true to the party and kept the machine tuned for her second run.

Now they are gone, and the voice of the party’s middle has gone with them. There are no high-powered governors or senators to take their place.

The closest thing the party has to an overarching senior figure is Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and she has her hands full managing the House. Obama is busy with his My Brother’s Keeper foundation and is staying out.

Most of the middle-of-the-roaders I know hope former Vice President Joe Biden will take the wheel.

He might. But for all of Biden’s experience and charm, he’s no Clinton.

Unequal justice: Paul Manafort, who briefly managed Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, didn’t use a gun or knife to scam the government and various financial institutions out of millions of dollars. There were no grieving victims’ relatives to testify at his trial.

Perhaps that’s why federal Judge T.S. Ellis gave him a sentence that will probably have Manafort out of prison in less than three years. Some first-time offenders are more deserving than others, it appears. It’s hard to see any judge cutting an armed robber a break on a first offense because he’s lived “an otherwise blameless life.”

She’s an Obama appointee; Ellis was named to the bench by Ronald Reagan. Maybe she won’t be as impressed by Manafort’s tailored suits, white skin and friendship with the president.

Movie time: “A Madea Family Funeral.” The latest chapter in Tyler Perry’s Madea stories is imaginative, entertaining and laced with social commentary to keep it all relevant.

“What Men Want”: Perhaps I should have passed on reviewing this movie because I’m a man, but for me, it just didn’t have it. The public must agree, because it was just me and one other person in the theater.

I’m glad I used one of my gift cards, because if I’d paid my way in, I would have to have asked for my money back.

City Hall two-step: The Smuin Ballet fundraiser hosted by John Konstin of John’s Grill at the San Francisco Design Center was more than a match for any of the company’s previous fundraisers.

The highlight was London Breed stepping into silver slippers and taking to the stage to show how a real dancing mayor can move.

Fame and fortune: CBS’ Gayle King scored big points when she interviewed R. Kelly the other day. I couldn’t help but think back to the early ’70s at a black political convention in South Carolina, when a much younger King was part of the staff. As was Oprah Winfrey.

What can I say? They went on to bigger and better things, and the rest of us didn’t.

In the chair: Talk in the barbershop turned to politics the other day, specifically about all the black women running major U.S. cities.

“San Francisco, New Orleans, Atlanta, and now it’s pretty much a black-and-white choice in Chicago,” one guy said.

“Really? the barber asked.

“One candidate is black and has white hair. The other candidate is black and has a white wife.”

Two-term mayor of San Francisco, renowned speaker of the California Assembly, and widely regarded as the most influential African American politician of the late twentieth century, Willie L. Brown, Jr. has been at the center of California politics, government and civic life for four decades. His career spans the American presidency from Lyndon Johnson to George W. Bush, and he’s worked with every California governor from Pat Brown to Arnold Schwarzenegger. From civil rights to education reform, tax policy, economic development, health care, international trade, domestic partnerships and affirmative action, he’s left his imprimatur on every aspect of politics and public policy in the Golden State. As mayor of California’s most cosmopolitan city, he refurbished and rebuilt the nation’s busiest transit system, pioneered the use of bond measures to build affordable housing, created a model juvenile justice system, and paved the way for a second campus of UCSF to serve as the anchor of a new development that will position the city as a center for the burgeoning field of biotechnology.

Today, he heads the Willie L. Brown Jr. Institute on Politics and Public Service, where he shares his knowledge and skills with a new generation of California leaders.